A Whole Lotta Good Goin' On

Friends, 

 

We have a lot of things coming up soon that I want to make sure you are planning on being part of. So, get out your calendar and mark these events! 

 

Our Great Decisions program got off to an amazing start last Monday. We had a full house and over 30 people more joining us via zoom. If you have not done so, click here and sign up for the weekly reminders, as well as the zoom link if you need it. 

 

February is simply full of opportunities that cover the whole spectrum of our journeys of faith. 

- Every weekend through February 7 and 8, we will be collecting ice, beans, cash, and canned goods after worship for Someone Cares Soup Kitchen in Costa Mesa, as part of our Souper Bowl of Caring. 

- On Wednesday, February 11, from 10:00 – 11:00am, we will have a Movement Class led by Diane Hanlon. Click here to register. 

- On the weekend of February 14 and 15 we will have Festive Praise! worship services, channeling the joyous spirit of Mardi Gras before we begin the season of Lent. 

- On Saturday, February 14, we will have a Meet Me at St. Mark event in the Fellowship Hall following worship (so, around 6:00pm). Bring your sweetie or your bestie or your own delightful self and enjoy some food and music with your church family! 

- On Wednesday, February 18, we will have an Ash Wednesday Service at 6:30. This is a solemn time for remembering who we are as we enter the Season of Lent. 

- The Season of Lent lasts from Wednesday, February 18 through Good Friday, April 3. See below for more information about our theme. 

- On Sunday, February 22, we will host a Dinner & Dialogue with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb at 6:00 PM. Dr. Raheb was the senior pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem for 30 years and is a renown theologian, writer, and advocate for justice. Registration is required and seating is limited. Dr. Raheb’s topic is Christian Witness During a Genocide. Please register by February 17th by scanning the QR code on the flyer here.

- On Wednesday, February 25, we will begin a weekly Lenten Bible Studies in the Bonhoeffer Room and on zoom, at 10:00am. 

- On Wednesday, February 25, we will begin our weekly Lenten Book Study Gatherings on zoom, from 7:00-7:45pm. 

- On Thursday, April 2, we will have Maundy Thursday worship at 6:30pm in the Sanctuary. 

- On Friday, April 3, we will have two different opportunities to join with other congregations for a Good Friday service at noon. We will share more information as those dates get closer. 

- On Saturday, April 4, we will have our Family Easter Eggstravaganza at 10:00am. The Children and Youth Ministries Commission will share more information as the time nears. 

- On Saturday, April 4, we will have our first Easter celebration during our Saturdays@5 worship. 

- On Sunday, April 5, we will have two Easter services, at 9:00 and 10:30am.

 

Our theme for the Season of Lent is, Turning over Tables, based on a book by that name by Kathy Escobar. We will read the book as our Book Study, study related Scripture texts as our Bible Study, and engage with those texts and topics throughout our worship services. The Adult Education Commission has ordered copies of the book, which you will be able to purchase after worship on February 7-8, and 14-15. 

 

The description of this book from the publisher Westminster/John Knox reads: “With each week of Lent, readers will dig deeper into Jesus’ challenge to the pervasive influence of privilege and oppression that have dominated since ancient times. Through poignant reflections and thought-provoking practices, readers will discover how they can harness the disruptive power of Jesus’ teachings to bring about meaningful change in their communities and beyond. Together, we can turn the tables and build a world where justice, healing, and greater equity reigns supreme.” 

 

I’m intrigued and I hope you are too.

 

Mark of St. Mark

  

Protest and Worship

Friends, 

Back in 1969, the National Black Economic Development Conference (NBEDC) adopted what was called “The Black Manifesto.” It was the year after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated and his vision of “the beloved community” was undergoing some re-evaluation among many African Americans. Namely, the idea that we can all forgive one another and put the past behind us as we move forward into the promised land of racial harmony was being challenged by the sheer fact that white Americans, on average, continued to enjoy a far better standard of living than African Americans. Whether it was through back room deals or wink-and-nod agreements, there continued to be institutional barriers and unacknowledged privileges that were far more powerful in everyday life than the rhetoric and aspirations of the beloved community. So, the Black Manifesto addressed, not just changes in the law or changes in the heart, but an economic transfer of wealth, demanding that white churches and synagogues give $500,000,000 to the African American community. It is a lot of money and was even a relatively greater amount of money then. But it was the amount that the NBEDC determined was necessary to set up the kind of infrastructure that was necessary to enable African Americans to rise up out of poverty, out of inadequate education, out of ill-housing, and out of under-employment after centuries of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and a host of racist abuse. 

 

It was and it wasn’t a large amount of money. It came out to about $15.00 per African American, so in that respect it was not the kind of reparation that a courtroom might offer to someone who had been ill-used by another. And from the giving side, one white theologian said that it was an amount that equaled about one month of receipts for white churches in America. Not a small thing normally, but certainly tiny compared to the kinds of money that churches raise through capital campaigns over and over. Still, it was money and it was a lot of money and that always means that people will differ strongly over it. And they did. Many persons argued that by enumerating the needs of the black community, the manifesto was racializing the issue, just when we should all get along and work together on equal footing. 

 

On May 4, 1969, James Forman and other members of the NBEDC interrupted worship at the Riverside Church in Manhattan and read the demands of the manifesto. The Riverside Church was not a bastion of racist resistance, but was considered by many to be a leading light among progressive churches. Before Forman could begin to explain the reason for the service interruption, the organist drowned out his words with the hymn “May Jesus Christ be Praised,” as preaching minister Rev. Dr. Ernest Campbell led a silent walkout of the majority of the congregation. The attention quickly moved from whether the demands of reparation in the manifesto were justified to whether disrupting a worship service were a proper way of making one’s demands known.

 

I shared this story in a sermon ten years ago and I wondered how we at St. Mark would feel if some Black Lives Matter protesters interrupted our worship service, demanding that we direct more of our attention, time, and budget to racial justice, or if some climate activists interrupted worship and demanded that we undertake more direct action to save the environment. I asked, “Would we be angry? Would we walk out, like the pastor, the choir, and half the congregation of Riverside did?” After worship quite a few of you intoned on how you think you would react, and how you think most others would as well. If they marched around the sanctuary, you would join them. If they shouted, “Black Lives Matter!” you would shout along. If they demanded reparations, you would ask the Finance Commission to do what they could to meet the demand. Many of us figured that protests against injustice are in sync, and not contrary, to who we are when we worship, so we would at least give them a listen. 

 

While I share those sentiments, I have to admit that it’s easy to say when speaking hypothetically. The shock of someone actually disrupting worship in Manhattan 57 years ago, or in Minneapolis last week, or in Jerusalem 2000 years ago, or any time at St. Mark would probably prove more jolting than I want to imagine – especially since we’re already on tenterhooks after some of the episodes of gun violence that have taken in houses of worship over the last decade. So, we should be circumspect about it. Today, the Riverside Church in Manhattan has this page devoted to “The Black Manifesto,” which includes a study guide regarding the church’s response to it. 

 

Protests of many kinds have long been part of the Christian tradition, including the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem, and of course Jesus’ own disruption of worship in the temple. This Sunday, after worship, our Children and Youth Ministries Team will co-sponsor a one-hour protest after worship, along with our Peace and Justice Commission. As Pastor Hayes said in a letter to parents, “This protest was the idea of our youth who attended Sunday School last week.  During our discussion of Matthew 25 and Amos 5:24, we discussed ways our teens would like to live into God’s call to work for social justice…. Our youth said they’d like to protest ICE violence and call for justice for Renee Good’s death.  And, they said they’d like to invite our congregation to join them, so everyone (all ages) are welcome to attend.” 

 

Mark of St. Mark 

 

 

The Unique Courage of MLK, Jr.

 Friends, 

It takes one kind of courage to stand up to one’s enemies and a deeper kind of courage to stand up to one’s friends. Many democrats overlook Bill Clinton’s infidelities, while roundly criticizing Donald Trump’s infidelities, and many republicans overlook Donald Trump’s infidelities, while roundly criticizing Bill Clinton’s infidelities. That kind of inconsistency happens when we begin to identify more with a movement, party, or cause, than with truth, justice, and accountability. I have found myself having to practice that lesson when writing a protest letter to someone in office, whom I generally support. It is easier just to keep silent in order to keep the peace, or to let something slide in order to keep a “united front” against the opposition. But when a friend is truly in error, an honest and loving rebuke can be a unique act of love.  

 

Yesterday, January 15, was the birthdate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born 97 years ago. Dr. King has been remembered kindly since his assassination in 1968, but for many years he was vilified by his opponents and investigated by the FBI. The Civil Rights movement expected abuse from the Klan and other professed racists, and prepared to meet that abuse with nonviolent resistance. But Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is different, because there he stands up to those who professed themselves to be his friends and allies. While some white, progressive clergy stood and marched with King, many professed “moderates” criticized the movement for being too aggressive, too impatient, and causing disruption. 

 

Some clergy criticized King’s involvement in the struggle for civil rights in Birmingham because he was an “outsider.” In response, Dr. King penned the memorable words that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” He argued that instead of seeing “them” over there and “us” over here, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” His conclusion was that “Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Some clergy criticized the demonstrations in Birmingham as agitation, disturbing the peace. In response, Dr. King lamented that they were not sharing “a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations.” After describing the kind of cleansing and non-violent regiment in which the protesters trained, Dr. King said, “Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.” Some clergy accused Dr. King of being inconsistent, at times encouraging people to follow laws that desegregated, but at other times encouraging people to resist laws. In response, Dr. King said, “The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’" 

 

So many of Dr. King’s arguments sound as if they were written last week in response to criticisms of outrage over the ICE killing of Renee Good. You can read the entire letter in many publications and online here. My point is not to comment on the whole letter or even to show how it is pertinent piece by piece today. It is to say that Dr. King wrote this letter to those whom he considered allies, members of the church that he loved, served, and appreciated. It takes one kind of courage to stand up to one’s enemies, but another to stand up to one’s friends. That is the courage that I think makes this letter so compelling.

 

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a significant figure of U.S. history as a hero and a martyr. One way we can honor Dr. King is by seeing him as a sibling in Christ, whose challenge to his friends is a prophetic call to us to hold one another to the high standards of truth, justice, and accountability.

 

Mark of St. Mark

Opportunities to Serve at St. Mark

 Friends, 

 

We have some ongoing volunteer opportunities at the church in order to keep providing some of the things that we treasure and for you to put some skin in saying, “I am the church.” Here are brief descriptions of the opportunities and contact information for you to ask questions or indicate interest. Get them before they’re gone! 

 

- Memorial Candles Ziggurat: Each week we have candles available for you to light in prayer or memory of someone you love. The candles need weekly tending, as some of decorative candles and tea lights burn down and need replacing. This role takes approximately 20 minutes each week and can be someone’s sole responsibility or a shared responsibility. Click here to contact Sue-Ann Wichman if you have questions or are willing to help. 

 

- Keynote Presentations: Each Saturday and Sunday during worship we need someone to advance the slides of our Keynote presentations. With a leadership bulletin and preview slides, this role requires you to come in 20 minutes prior to worship and to work during the service. Click here to contact Judith Hug if you have questions or are willing to help. 

 

- Video Streaming: Each Saturday and Sunday worship service is streamed on YouTube, with about 100 views each weekend. We have three cameras in the sanctuary that enable those who view from home to participate. With a brief tutorial, choosing and aiming the cameras is a delightful way to engage in the service and help others to do the same. We need someone who can run the video stream during Saturday services, either weekly or occasionally. Click here to contact Sue-Ann Wichman if you have questions or are willing to help. 

 

- Audio Engineer: Each Saturday and Sunday service requires someone to run the sound board. It is a skill that one can learn by working alongside our existing engineers. We need someone who would be willing to run the audio controls during the Saturday worship services either weekly or occasionally. Click here to contact Sue-Ann Wichman if you have questions or are willing to help. 

 

- Liturgists: Each Sunday, liturgists lead our Call to Worship and other parts of worship. The script is written out and sent ahead of time and only requires the comfort and skill of public speaking. The more liturgists we have in the rotation, the less frequently we call on them. Click here to contact Sue-Ann Wichman if you have questions or are willing to help. 

 

- Ushers and Greeters: Studies show that a person’s first ten minutes attending a church for the first time largely determines whether they will attend a second time. Our greeters and ushers are those who provide that first welcome to guests, and make the rest of us feel loved when we enter also. Ushers also serve the church by enabling us to collect offerings each week. The more ushers and greeters we have in the rotation, the less frequently we call on them. Click hereto contact Sue-Ann Wichman if you have questions or are willing to help.

 

- And Others: Of course, there is a never-ending need for Sunday School teachers, Choir members, Commission members, and especially those who show up week after week with a prayer on their lips and a song in their hearts. If that’s what you have to give, Thanks! 

 

You are the church!
Mark of St. Mark

Happy New Year

Friends, 

Welcome to the New Year! There is something encouraging about a new year, new beginning, a chance to start anew.  

 

One of the new things we will experience this year is the addition of SueJeanne Koh (back) to our staff. You may remember that we hired SueJeanne a few years ago, jointly with New Hope Presbyterian Church, to work with our Adult Education. It was a partnership that started out strongly when we were doing many things online during COVID, and it was a great opportunity to connect with our friends from New Hope. But, as our meetings began to resume in person, the physical distance between our two congregations proved to be too much to make our cooperative events sustainable. So, while SueJeanne continued to be visible and to exercise her gifts with us a lot, she was doing so as a volunteer. Now, things have changed.

 

During the last year, SueJeanne passed her Ordination Exams, was examined by the Committee on Preparation for Ministry and on the floor of the Los Ranchos Presbytery, and was declared “ready for a call.” While she continues to work as the Assistant Director of Graduate Futures and Research Engagement at UCI, SueJeanne is now back on staff with us. There are still a few steps to take in order for SueJeanne to be ordained, but with the blessing of the Presbytery and the vote of our Session, she is our Associate Pastor for Christian Formation and Public Engagement. As such, she will be primarily working with our adult and children’s educational programs as part of our Pastoral Staff. 

 

Here is an overview of how our staff cooperate with one another and volunteers in our work of Christian Formation. 

Children’s Ministry: Pastor SueJeanne and Jane Reimund, our Christian Education Assistant, work with our Children and Youth Ministry (CYM) Commission for Sunday School and other educational events pertaining to children up through the 6^th grade. 

Tween Ministry: Pastor Hayes and Pastor SueJeanne will work alongside one another and with the CYM Commission for opportunities for education and service with 4^th-6^th graders. There are times that the “tweens” join with other children and at times they join with our Youth and Family events for grades 7-12. 

Youth Ministry: Pastor Hayes will continue to lead this part of our church life, with the CYM Commission. 

Adult Education: Pastor SueJeanne will work with the Adult Education Commission and Pastor Mark, providing leadership and support for formation opportunities for adults. 

Public Engagement:  Pastor SueJeanne will work with Pastor Mark on opportunities for St. Mark to take leadership roles in the larger community, such as organizing Continuing Education for the pastors in the Presbytery and other cooperative ventures with churches and agencies throughout Orange County. 

 

Of course, flow charts and job descriptions only capture part of the realities of how ministry actually functions. Hayes and I are delighted with welcoming SueJeanne back to our staff as we continue serving God by you well. 

 

Mark of St. Mark 

Glad Tidings from the Davisfolk

From all of us, to all of you. Blessings on this Christmas Day. 

In a season rightly renowned for good cheer,

we have a bit o’ that very thing here.

We’re healthy, we’re happy, and all of that stuff,

with that being said, it would be enough.

But we can say more, and say more we shall,

so tune in to listen as we tell you how.

 

Mickey, Amanda, and Tallulah (all grown),

now live in Des Moines, the Midwest as their home.

But come a new year they have plans so delightful,

as they move their things and themselves down to Nashville.

[Tallulah’s now four, and she’s ever a treat,

she plays games and favorite songs on repeat.]

 

Luke settled into Provence for a spell,

while stippling and painting and speaking French well.

Chris, Mark, Gail, and Colin got to stay over,

as we flew to see him in mid-October.

[Before we flew in Ms. Jeanette had flown out,

it’s funny how Luke worked that timing out!]

 

Nic and Lindy went to a foreign land,

where he got on one knee and asked for her hand,

She looked down and said, “Yes, I will” to his query,

and now they are happ’ly engaged to marry.

[They, too, were to travel with us into France,

but landed in London and still found romance.]

 

Gail has a new place, an apartment that’s cute,

she’s now a director at her dance institute.

And when she’s not teaching or fantasy footballin’,

she spends her time with the aforementioned Colin.

[Do you know all the things a dance teacher must do?

She sews, hems, and beads dance gowns and tutus!]

 

Chris and Mark do what they’ve always done best,

as they’ve learned to parent from their now empty nest.

Through preaching and teaching and with healing touch,

they long for a world full of goodness and such.

[Our guiding star, when times come at us odd:

“Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God.”]

 

So this marks the end of this glance at our tribe,

we hope your response is not “unsubscribe.”

Your friendship is golden and brings us delight,

it’s balm when we’re hurt and in shadows a light.

So, to this world shaken and to many forlorn,

we herald this season with “Christ is born!”

 

Love, The Davisfolk (present and future)

Violence and Advent

 Friends,  

This past weekend we heard the news of several horrible acts of violence. One was a hate crime during a Hannukah celebration, driven by antisemitism. One was a school shooting at Brown University and, as it turns out, the shooter is suspected of having killed a professor in an earlier school shooting. And then we heard the gruesome news of Rob and Michelle Reiner’s murder and the arrest of their son as the prime suspect. While we rightly attend parties, wrap gifts, and tune our hearts to embrace the story of Jesus’ birth, the ugly reality of human brokenness rears its head over and over. 

 

These tragedies have familiar dynamics – religious violence, gun violence, and domestic violence among them – and each one carries its own trajectory of trauma. When there was a school shooting at the University of Iowa, I waited in line to use a pay phone and call Chris to let her know that I was safe. The memory of that dingy little area, surrounded by paneled walls, with caller after caller assuring their families but unable to answer any of their questions has been on my mind this week. Some of you are remembering challenges of drug addiction or the fear of being safe within your own home. If the events of this past week have raked up memories or feelings that are difficult for you to process, please know that you have pastors, elders, deacons, a parish nurse, a parish counselor, and many friends who are ready to lend an ear or hold you in prayer. 

 

It seems that the story of Christ’s birth is ever contextualized in a world of harsh realities. You may remember that five years ago we could not gather for Christmas Eve. Instead, our Worship Commission put together an “Angel Walk” where you could get a photo with some Angel Wings that Carrie Schneider had created for us, then walk through the Fellowship Hall where many of us had shared our Nativity Scenes in a beautiful display. We also had a Prayer Wall for sharing our concerns, a Giving Tree for sharing our blessings, and an Illumination Walk around the labyrinth. Then, we produced a video of readings and music for families to watch together at home. It was a time of intense grief – many of us lost loved ones during the pandemic and were unable to sit with the dying or comfort the living as we wanted. And it was a time of genuine care, with some extraordinary acts of kindness despite the real health dangers.

 

During that time, I shared these words that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his fiancée while he was a prisoner in Tegal, which I think are as appropriate this week: “I think we're going to have an exceptionally good Christmas. The very fact that every outward circumstance precludes our making provision for it will show whether we can be content with what is truly essential. I used to be very fond of thinking up and buying presents, but now that we have nothing to give, the gift God gave us in the birth of Christ will seem all the more glorious; the emptier our hands, the better we understand what Luther meant by his dying words: ‘We're beggars; it's true.’ The poorer our quarters, the more clearly we perceive that our hearts should be Christ's home on earth.”

 

The story of Jesus’ birth is embedded in tyranny, forced migration, and violence. And yet it is glorious. As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, may our hearts be Christ’s home on earth.

 

Mark of St. Mark